The Safe Game
by waterhands20
Summary: It was a tempting offer. He knew better than to accept, or at least, he should have.
Without warning, he felt his opponent's icy, balled fist land square on his jaw. His head twisted slightly, barely noticing the blood-red eyes that stared back at him, but it did little to deter his confidence. Instead, he pumped his chest and charged back head-on. Unphased with a smirk formed by his lips and a deathly glare, he destroyed the robot with ease. He stood gallantly over his defeated foe's shattered remains before his adrenaline rush plummeted, and he found himself back in the training pod she invented. Designed specifically to withhold his power, he was irritatingly dissapointed that she couldn't come up with something better than what he considered to be 'child's play'.

Sweat coated his body so much so that it glistened white, even in that deep, red room. With a grunt and a wipe over his brown, he leaned down and picked up a small, glass piece that belonged to the robot's eye. Barely pressing down, the glass couldn't hold his pressure, and it broke between his fingers, "Curses!"

Fueled by a new found rage, he marched towards the command center of the pod and frantically typed buttons that lit up blue and red wherever his fingers pushed. Grinding his teeth, he had no choice but to wait for that blue-haired brat to answer his call.

"Agh! What the hell is taking her so long?" He groaned as he stared at the blank screen in front of him, still no answer, _"Answer the bloody call, you wretched woman..."_

Just then, the static of the intercom beside him began to breathe life, and the pixels from the screen began to take form, albeit slowly. Clearly, his ki blasts from his brief sparing session with the outdated robot affected the electrical equipment. To his knowledge, he remembered even the lower class of Freeza's warriors having more up-to-date technology than this, "Heh! Pathetic."

The image in front of him took more and more depth until it metamorphosized into the powder skin spoiled princess he knew to be the Earth female, obviously distracted by something other than him and his problem.

"How dare she-"' his eyes bulged, 'Woman!" he shouted.

"It's Bulma to you." She snapped back.

"'Whatever" He answered as he crossed his arms, "When are you going to stop serving me these tin cans you call 'combative machines' and give me a real mechanical opponent to face?"

"We're taking a bit of a break here, Vegeta. I'm trying to come up with stronger material so they have a longer lifespan than a few minutes against you. You're running my resources dry here, and I'm trying my best to accomodate."

Vegeta spit with disgust, "I refuse to allow myself to be conditioned by cheap, Earth metal prototypes; crafted half-assedly by you. Now I demand you forge something better for me and make it snappy. Kakarot is busily preparing for the Androids' arrival, and while he's out there getting stronger, I'm sitting here having social hour with a broken robot and a female that has way too much time on her hands. Now get to it."

Bulma scoffed, already immune to his verbal abuse, "First of all, you need to get a grip! I'll have you know that my schedule is incredibly busy! And get this, the Androids aren't going to appear for another few years, so I'm more than certain you can wait a few days so I can conjure something that can tolerate your barbaric fighting skills." she quoted with her fingers, "Now will you please just chill?!"

"Do you want this waste of space you call a planet to survive the Android's onslaught, or not?! Now, I don't know about you, but in the fighting world, every minute, every millisecond counts. That's how the toughest survive, because they're always ready. That's how I need to be."

Bulma stared at him absentmindedly before she broke into a giggle, "Ok, I get all that martial arts stuff, but you could stand to show us all, especially me, a little more gratitude. I don't need to feed you milk protein and toys to be ready for those monsters, you know. There are other ways to combat the Androids besides you fighting them head on. I can create my own militia of gadgets to fight instead. See? We don't need your brute force in our team; we can do just fine without you, you big jerk!" Bulma knew she was full of it, hell, even she knew that he knew, but she still wanted to jab him, even if just a little bit. Kami knows he deserved at least that.

Vegeta growled something fierce, "That's enough! I'm not going to sit here and entertain your tantrum. We're burning daylight here, and I cannot afford to lose more precious time, wasting my own milliseconds lollygagging here with you!"

She cocked her head, "Really, now? Listen buddy, my dad's not feeling well right now and I'm the only Engineer on the planet that is willing to help you out, so you better be nice to me and get it together, or I'll do it for you."

Little did she know that she had struck a chord in him. Vegeta didn't say a word, trying his best to retain his composure, _"Does she know, perhaps Kakarot said something? No, there's no way. Even then, who the hell does she think she is?!'_

Silence was all she got in return. The only thing she noticed differently on him was a blush that coated the constipated look on his face. He was uncomfortable, and she decided to use this to her advantage.

"What's the magic word?"

He paused his thoughts, baffled, "Come again?"

Bulma's face twisted with anger, "Were you deaf during this whole conversation? You know what I mean. Now I'm not going to continue to help you until you start giving me the respect that I deserve."

It became quiet very quickly. The Saiyan Prince was flabberghasted that such a commoner would address him in that manner. If she demanded respect from him, then she had just referred him as her 'equal'. Rage had begun to bubble in the pit of his stomach. Meanwhile, Bulma waited attentively for him to react. She wasn't going to let him walk all over her just because he was one of the strongest on the planet. If anything, she knew she could count on Goku to set the Saiyan sourpuss straight _"Yeah, now who's in control?"_

She thought she had him right in the palm of her hand, until Vegeta's grimace had begun to disappea. Soon, that arrogant ego reared it's ugly head. He formed a wicked grin, and scoffed at her ultimatum.

"Ha! Don't flatter yourself. If anything, I have more than likely surpassed Kakarot in strength and speed. I'm more than certain I can tke him on now, but that's not the point. Even that idiot Kakarot knows this. Do you really believe that he's going to come to your rescue, knowing well that I am working my ass off around the clock so that after I smite the Androids with my might, I kill Kakarot with just the palms of my hands? No. He's busy getting ready for one of the greatest battles in history. Trust me, he's a Saiyan, he has better things to do."

Bulma's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets before she felt consumed with rage. She had reached her limit, "When you learn some manners and how to properly speak to a lady, then I will build you your damn robots, until then, Arrivederci!"

"Huh? No, wait-!"'

Vegeta watched helplessly, as a very-pissed Bulma signalled him farewell, and the screen again faded to black, "Dammit!"


End file.
